


The Way You Move

by Larry_Klaine_Stylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ballet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson/pseuds/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is dragged to the ballet by his overbearing girlfriend, where he meets Louis, a gorgeous dancer with kind blue eyes and a beautiful smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way You Move

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a prompt fill on Tumblr.

Harry didn't want to be here.

Like, he really really did not want to be here.

But Samantha had pouted and begged and he couldn't just say no to all of that. So here he was, sitting in a large auditorium at the local ballet school. They weren't even a professional troupe. Honestly, he didn't see the point. There were no words in ballet, so how were you supposed to follow the storyline? It was all just a bit boring and far too posh for him. Why couldn't they just go see a film like normal people?

But either way, he was here, and Samantha had forced him into a suit. Now, don't get him wrong, he loved dressing up for certain things. But sitting in this dingy auditorium in one of his best suits with Samantha perched next to him in a bright red dress that revealed far too much cleavage was not what he would call a good time. He supposed if he were normal he'd find the dress arousing, but he wasn't and he didn't. Maybe it was just who was wearing the dress that he didn't find arousing, though.

Samantha was loud and bossy, and he honestly couldn't remember why they'd ever gotten together in the first place. Sure, she had her moments where she was sweet and kind, but they'd never been plentiful, and they were coming less and less frequently lately. He figured the only reason he hadn't broken up with her yet was because being with her gave him somewhat of a sense of normalcy and solidity. Like as long as he was with her, his life would never be very joyous or exciting, but at least he wouldn't be sitting alone in his tiny flat, eating ice cream out of a tub and trying to decide where to go from there. They'd been together for so long now that he just sort of felt obligated to stay.

Samantha reached over, taking his large hand in her rather small one, and suddenly he was hit with the urge to go take a wee before the show started. He wasn't quite sure if he actually needed to take a piss, or if it was just his brain giving him an out to get away from Samantha and her clammy hands for a moment.

He leaned over to her whispering, "Going to the bathroom." before getting up and heading out of the auditorium and into the hall.

There were a few large studios which he figured was where they held classes during business hours. There were dressing rooms as well, which were located right by the bathroom. As he headed towards the door marked 'Men's', a rather lanky figure stepped out of one of the dressing rooms, just barely blocking his path. He had been looking around at the large dance school, and nearly bumped right into the man in front of him. When he turned to apologize, he was immediately lost for words.

The man standing before him was wearing a turquoise outfit, which Harry could best describe as a leotard, though he was rather certain it wouldn't quite fit under that category. However the fabric was tight, as if it were such, and so that is what he would call it, until he could find out what exactly it was. The turquoise fabric went all the way down his arms, covering them completely. It looked extremely tight around the man's biceps, stretching around them in a way that was almost obscene. The fabric was tight around the other man's stomach, and Harry had to work quite hard to stop his breath from hitching. The fabric of the leg stopped at a strange place, in Harry's opinion, not stopping at the crease of the thigh/pelvis, like most women's leotards he'd seen, but not going all the way down to the ankle, either. It stopped at about mid-thigh. He had white tights which covered the parts of his legs that the leotard didn't, and they hugged his calves perfectly. The whole costume was lined with traces of gold, which certainly made the turquoise pop. The outfit also had a rather plunging neckline, which revealed just the smallest fragment of light brown chest hair, which matched with the man's caramel locks perfectly. He had blue eyes, and a lovely grin, and Harry wasn't sure how long he'd been staring when the other boy spoke.

"Sorry I almost ran in to you." He said, and his voice was airy and beautiful, and Harry was mesmerized yet again.

"No, sorry. My fault." He managed to say. "Wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's fine." The man said, looking down at the ground almost shyly before looking back up. "I'm Louis."

"Harry."

"Nice to meet you, Harry. I've got to go get in places for the start of the show, but maybe I'll see you after?"

"Sure, yeah. Break a leg. That's what you say to performers, yeah?"

"It is." Louis nodded with a smile which caused his eyes to crinkle, thus making Harry's heart stutter in his chest.

Harry walked the rest of the way to the bathroom as Louis walked off towards the backstage area. He may have sneaked a peek over his shoulder as they both walked their separate ways and seen that, if he thought the front neckline was plunging, he had no idea what to call that back of the outfit, the neckline coming down to Louis' mid-back, right above what happened to be a rather perfect round ass which Harry found his eyes immediately drawn to, unable to look away until he ran face first into the bathroom door. He shook his head as he made his way inside.

As he washed his hands, he looked in the mirror, seeing a very distinct blush on his cheeks. He realized that maybe he wasn't dreading this ballet as much as he had been when he got here.

He went and sat next to Samantha again, and she took his hand in hers, and he found himself a little more repulsed than he probably should have been, because she was his girlfriend after all. But the only hand he really wanted to hold was Louis'. And maybe that was ridiculous, but it was true.

The lights went down and the ballet started, and Harry found himself nearly groaning with impatience as he waited for Louis to show up. He wasn't even in the first three scenes. But then there he was, his turquoise outfit looking even more gorgeous under the stage lights, the gold shimmering brightly. And when he began to dance, Harry's breath caught in his throat. He moved so freely, as if he had been born dancing. His legs stretching high as he kicked into the air, his body bending in ways Harry didn't know were possible. He moved in swift, fluid motions, his body contorting and stretching and flying through the air.

At one point, a much taller man with large arms and a much more masculine outfit came over, picking Louis up high above his head as they both spun around, Louis doing some fancy move in the air with his legs that Harry couldn't even figure out how it had been done.

The rest of the ballet passed by in a blur of Louis, all turquoise and gold and shining eyes and a dazzling smile. Harry was vaguely aware that there were other people on the stage, but he only saw Louis. Samantha seemed to be enjoying the fact that Harry was so enthralled, but if only she had known why.

When the show ended, he and Samantha got up, and she held tight to his hand, though he wished she wouldn't because if he saw Louis outside the auditorium, he didn't want him to know that he was currently unavailable.

They walked out into the hallway where all of the performers had lined up, and Harry was lucky, because Samantha must have seen someone she really wanted to speak with, because she let go of his hand, dashing off, and he was free to look for Louis. A small frown made its way on to his face when he couldn't find him, and then Samantha was by his side again, telling him she was ready to go.

As they made their way to the car, Harry spied a slight, well built man with caramel colored hair and a turquoise outfit out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see Louis who smiled one of his dazzling smiles at him, and Harry smiled back, giving him a small nod, afraid to do anything more grand, such as wave, in case Samantha should notice.

They made their way out to the car, and Samantha would not shut up the entire way home. Harry listened as well as he could, mostly nodding and saying 'Mhhm.' when he assumed it to be an appropriate time. But really his mind was back at the dance studio with Louis.

000

When he woke up the next morning, Louis was the first thing on his mind.

As he ate breakfast he thought of crinkly blue eyes and caramel hair.

At work he thought of turquoise fabric hugging the perfect contours of a slim body, just a few inches shorter than his own.

And when he got home he knew what he had to do.

He changed out of his work clothes and into his favorite pair of black skinny jeans and a plaid button up, which he left unbuttoned and paired with a plain white t-shirt. He hoped he looked nice, because this was really his only chance to impress Louis. If he wasn't interested today it wasn't like Harry was going to waste a bunch of his time pursuing him. It was now or never.

He hoped it would be now.

He hopped into the car, driving down to the dance studio. It was rather late at this point. Around seven thirty at night, and he just hoped the doors would be unlocked and that Louis would be there.

He got out of the car, running his hands through his hair and straightening his shirt as he walked up to the large doors of the studio. He pulled on one, and it was unlocked, so he pulled it the rest of the way open and slipped inside, hoping he looked presentable.

He heard the soft sound of music playing from one of the smaller studio rooms and made his way towards it, opening the door just a crack to peek inside. Louis was the only one in the room, and Harry let out a breath at how perfect this was.

He stayed there for a moment, door cracked just enough for him to be able to see in. And maybe it was creepy, but he really didn't care, because Louis was wearing light gray sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt that somehow managed to hug the contours of his body anyhow. And he was moving through a dance that was slow and fluid and it felt almost like watching the wind, to Harry, as he drifted around the space of the little dance room, watching himself in the large mirror that covered an entire wall.

He decided that he had better make his presence known now before he became content with just watching and lost his chance. He opened the door slowly, quietly, clearing his throat softly upon entering.

Louis had had his eyes closed, lost in the music and the dance, and Harry couldn't believe how beautiful he looked. How at peace he seemed.

He jumped, though, at the sound from Harry, and the spell was broken. His eyes flew open, and he saw Harry in the mirror first, before turning around to face him.

"Christ, you scared me. I thought I was alone." Louis said, grabbing a water bottle from the floor and taking a sip, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Harry shrugged. He supposed he should have planned what he was going to say before showing up like this.

"You don't know?" Louis asked, sighing.

"No, I do." Harry said, a slight panicked edge to his tone. "I, um. I wanted to see you."

"Oh?" Louis asked, taking another sip from his bottle.

"Yeah. Is that...Is that a problem?"

"Dunno. Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" Louis quipped.

Well, shit. This wasn't going well at all.

"That was your girlfriend you came here with yesterday, wasn't it, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"And you are here on more than friendly terms, aren't you?" Louis asked, and Harry was silent. "Don't even think about lying to me, because why else would you show up here? Plus I saw you checking me out yesterday, and I can see it in your eyes right now. I'm not oblivious, you know?"

"Right. Yeah." Harry said. "So maybe I am. What then?"

"I'll repeat my earlier question. Why don't you ask your girlfriend?"

"Would you forget about her?" Harry asked, aggravated. "Look, would you...Would you like to come out for tea with me?"

"Now?" Louis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"I haven't gotten this dance down yet. We're having auditions for the Nutcracker next week, and if my audition isn't perfect there's no way I'll get the part I want."

"It looked pretty perfect to me." Harry commented.

"And you're not really a dance expert, are you?"

Harry sighed, "Admittedly, no. Yesterday was my first time seeing a ballet." He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, rocking slowly onto the balls of his feet and then back down. "But there's something in the way your body moves that's different from everyone else. You're special, I think."

Harry was pretty sure Louis was blushing.

"You're lucky you're charming and I like tea." Louis said, shoving his water into his duffel bag and pulling out a jumper, slipping it on to shield himself from the cold wind of the night.

Harry made his way outside, Louis following behind him.

"Mind giving me a ride? I live just a block that way, so I always just walk here."

"Hop in." Harry said, opening the passenger side door for Louis.

They both climbed into the car, and Harry drove them to a little tea shop not far away. The car ride was silent, and yet it was full of questions.

They arrived at the little shop and stepped inside. There weren't many people there at this hour, and it was dimly lit and warm and inviting, and it smelled absolutely wonderful. They placed their orders at the counter, Harry getting a bit of green tea with just a splash of lemon, and Louis going for a nice chamomile. They were given their tea, and Harry insisted on paying.

They went and sat on a small couch located in the back corner of the shop. It had a little stained glass table in front of it, which Harry set his tea on to let it cool a bit, while Louis took to sipping from his cup straight away.

"So, Harry." Louis began. "Tell me why you're here with me instead of back at home with your girlfriend."

"Because I'd rather be with you." Harry sad simply.

"Mm." Louis hummed, taking another sip of tea. "But why is that, Harry? You don't even know me."

"I know you're gorgeous." Harry said slowly, hoping he wasn't overstepping. They had just met after all. "I know you took my breath away the moment I saw you yesterday. I know that you've got amazing blue eyes and a dazzling smile. I know that there's something truly beautiful in the way that you move when you're dancing, and I can't look away. It's effortless. Like you were born to do it. You look so at peace, and it's a wonderful thing to watch. I wish I was as passionate about something as you are with dancing." He took a small sip of his tea. "And on top of all that, my girlfriend is annoying and rude and overbearing and loud and I don't love her. Never have."

Louis was quiet for a moment, looking at Harry over his steaming tea, "Wow. Really honest, aren't you?"

"I figured it was the best way to go, in this situation."

"Suppose it's my turn to be honest?"

Harry nodded, biting his lip.

"I found you to be quite good looking yesterday, and extremely kind, from what I saw. And then when I saw you after the show, and you had a girl draped around you, I was a bit disappointed, but I pushed that aside, because what right did I have? I'd just met you, and really I was being quite silly." Louis smiled sadly. "That's really why I was dancing. I mean, I do have auditions coming up, but I wasn't even practicing my audition piece. That dance, the one you saw me doing, it's sort of my go to piece for when I need to work out my emotions, or distract myself from something. I'd been at the studio for at least five hours when you got there, just dancing. The same piece. Over and over."

Harry was awed. Sipping at his tea and looking at Louis with unblinking eyes.

"Are you going to say something?" Louis asked.

"Not sure what to say, really." Harry admitted.

Louis nodded, taking another small sip of tea and just looking at Harry, "You really don't love your girlfriend?" He finally asked, conversationally.

"I really don't." Harry confirmed.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Going on three years now." Harry sighed, feeling tired just at the thought.

"And you don't love her, but you haven't broken up?"

"Suppose I'm a bit of a twat." Harry sighed.

"Why?"

"Because. It's just selfish reasons why I haven't broken up with her. Nothing better had come along, and I didn't want to be alone, and live in uncertainty, you know? Like, at least if I had her, sure I'd be annoyed nearly all the time and I'd wish I could just sink into my bed at night and disappear. But at least I had someone, and I knew she'd always be there."

"Doesn't sound selfish to me." Louis commented.

"It doesn't?"

"No." He shook his head. "Sounds like you were hurting yourself more than helping yourself."

Harry guessed Louis was right. Keeping himself trapped in a relationship he didn't enjoy had to be worse than being alone. It wasn't fair for him, nor was it fair for Samantha, and now he thought that maybe it wasn't fair to Louis.

"Harry?"

Harry shook himself out of his reverie, "Yeah?"

"If I do something, can you promise me you'll break up with your girlfriend, for the sake of everyone in the situation?"

He'd said everyone in the situation, which definitely made it sound like more than two people, and Harry hoped he was adding himself into the equation. He looked into Louis' eyes, nodding.

Louis set his tea down then, taking Harry's cup out of his hand and setting it on the table as well. He then put his hand on Harry's cheek, and it was warm from being wrapped around the cup full of hot liquid for so long. He leaned in, connecting his lips with Harry's. It was a slow kiss, calm and sure, and tasting just a little bit of tea. Harry breathed out through his nose in what almost sounded like a bit of a sigh, and Louis nibbled lightly on his bottom lip before pulling away.

"You've got to keep your promise." He whispered.

And as Louis jotted down his phone number on a napkin, handing it to Harry, he knew that he would. He didn't know how, but he knew it would be soon. He'd get it over with, and Samantha would finally be out of his life, and he could focus all of his attention on Louis, and it would be an amazing thing.


End file.
